'Go where we want when we want!' Couple plan for life on a narrow boat – 'need that calm'

Maxine and her partner, Steve, along with their terrier, Mexi, will soon embark on an adventure that will see them travel across the UK using only the country’s canals and waterways. The couple have been working hard over the past two years to build their own narrow boat from scratch. When she is ready to go, with both the interior and exterior furnishings all done, Maxine and Steve will begin their journey from Derbyshire.

“Then, eight months after coming home, we started seriously thinking about it.”

Maxine and Steve began looking at second hand narrow boats for sale throughout the country, but “they weren’t exactly what we wanted”.

The couple therefore decided to employ a boat builder from Nottingham to make one from scratch.

Although neither had done anything like it before, Maxine and Steve started watching vlogs and videos to get inspiration for the design of the boat, before taking their ideas to the boat builder.

But, by now, the boat has “everything you can think of on board”.

Maxine said: “We’ve got a washing machine, full Wi-Fi, a fridge, freezer, television, everything.

“We’ve got a wood burner and central heating as well.”

As the nine-foot-long, six-foot-wide boat is set to be Maxine and Steve’s home “forever”, the couple ensured it had “everything you have in a house, except for a bath”.

Once the boat’s anchor is lifted early next year, the adventurous pair will travel up and down the country, from Sheffield’s Don Valley to London’s Grand Union canal.

First, they will make their way slowly towards Northampton, to be there in time for the Crick Boat Show, and then up to Skipton because, Maxine said, “that’s one of my favourite places in Yorkshire”.

But what about living on a narrow boat is the 56-year-old most looking forward to?

“I am really looking forward to the lifestyle.

“I think it’s really important not to have a manic life – you need that calm.”

Maxine added: “And [I’m looking forward to] being with Steve all the time because we get on so well.

“It’s going to be so exciting being able to go where we want when we want.”

source: express.co.uk